When ministers pray at political conventions: A reader quiz

Evangelist Billy Graham, center, is flanked by GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon, right,
and Gov. Spiro T. Agnew, the vice presidential choice, left, as he delivers the benediction at the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Fla. Graham prayed for the unity and welfare of
the nation. Religion News Service file photo

Those who have watched much of the Republican and Democratic conventions this summer cannot have missed the clergy sightings that have become a routine feature of these otherwise worldly gatherings. They’re everywhere, these clergy, showing up during the day, at night, at the beginning, at the end …

From the safe distance of my Atlanta home today, I would like to invite readers to dig into five simple questions I want to ask about ministers and political conventions.

You are invited to play along at home. Add up your score at the end to see how you did.

Question 1: Why do political parties invite ministers to pray at their conventions?

They genuinely want (to feel that they are receiving) God’s presence and blessing on what they are doing.

They want to be seen as a party whose piety/ies match those of the American people.

They are appealing to specific demographic groups.

They are paying political debts.

They are hoping to mobilize specific ministers for (quasi) endorsements and thinly veiled electioneering come November.